Box wrench having a pivotally mounted workpiece abutment



June 26, 1956 c. REUILLARD 2,751,802

BOX WRENCH HAVING A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED WORKPIECE ABUTMENT Filed June 30,1953 OQunz'Z'Ze 786a z ZZa raL, lam e 12??? United States Patent BOXWRENCH HAVING A PIVOTALLY MGUNTED WORKPIECE ABUTNIENT Camille Reuillard,Buifalo, N. Y., assignor to Chauncey R. Hatch, Jr., Buttalo, N. Y.

Application June 30, 1953, Serial No. 365,116

1 Claim. (Cl. 81-121) My invention relates to improvements in box-Wrenches in which at one or each end of the body portion or shankserving as a handle for the wrench, an openended socket-head is formedto fit onto a nut or bolthead, said socket-head having its interiorconformed to receive the corner portions of square, hexagonal and otherforms of nuts or boltheads.

Boxwrenches, or spanners as they often are termed, by reason of theirsocket-heads being open at opposite ends, necessitate carefulapplication to the bolt to be threaded into an object to prevent thesocket-head slipping beyond the head of the bolt and encircling theshank of the latter, where it would be ineffective, and this is alsotrue when threading a nut onto a bolt and the space between the nut andthe part it is to bear against is greater than the depth or thickness ofthe nut; or in other words, greater than the axial measurement of thenut.

This invention has for its object the provision of a workpiece-abutmentmeans pivotally mounted on a curved section of a sloping wrench handleand having a free end portion movable so as to overlie the socketopening to prevent the socket-head slipping on the workpiece.

With the above and other objects to appear hereinafter, my invention, anexemplification of which is shown in the accompanying drawing, isdescribed hereinafter, and is particularly pointed out in the appendedclaim.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a boxwrench or spanner embodying myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, showing at the lefthand end an outeror work-confronting face of one sockethead and at the other end an inneror upper face of a second socket-head.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged inverted sectional View taken on line 33, Fig. 2,showing the wrench applied to a jam nut threaded onto a bolt passingthrough or fastened in a part.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of one end of the wrench showing the stop orabutment swung on its pivot to permit the wrench to be used in theconventional manner.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but shows the wrench applied to thehead of a bolt being threaded through or into a part.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of an object having raised marginal portions andshowing the wrench applied to a nut being threaded onto a boltprojecting from said object; one socket-head of the wrench having itsstop or abutment bearing against the outer face of the nut and thestopper or abutment at the other end swung into idle or inactiveposition so that the socket-head at said end may be used in theconventional manner.

Wren'ches'of the conventional type have an elongated body portion in theform of a shank or handle 7 provided at each end with a socket-head 8having its inner and outer faces disposed at an obtuse angle to theelongate axis of the handle 7 and each socket-head is provided with asocket-opening 9, the inside surface or wall of which is provided with acircular series of V-shaped or other notches 10 so arranged that whenthe socket-head is placed over a square, hexagonal, or octagonal nut orhead, the corners of the nut or head will enter certain of said notchesand thus upon moving the handle 7 in a circular path or in an arc of acircle, the bolt will be threaded or unthreaded, or in the event of thesocket-head being engaged with a nut, said nut will be rotated on thebolt entered therein or passed therethrough. While in the drawing thewrench is provided at opposite ends with socket-heads, it will of coursebe apparent that the sockethead could be provided only at one end of thehandle.

To prevent the sockethead sliding beyond the head of a workpiece, Iprovide stop means adapted to engage the outer face of a workpiece, andthus retain the sockethead in contact with the workpiece. Anexemplification of the application of my improved wrench to a jam orlocknut 11 is shown in Fig. 3 in which the head of the bolt 12 havingthe jam or locknut threaded thereon is slightly smaller than said jam orlocknut, thus allowing the socket-head of the wrench to be slipped overthe head 13 of the bolt and the corners 14 of the nut engaged by theV-shaped notches 10 formed in the wall of said sockethead. The stopmeans is preferably in the form of a flexible strip of metal 16 whichmay be designated a stoptongue and which is pivotally secured at one endto the handle 7, as at 17, and has its other end overhanging the outerend or edge of the socket-opening in said sockethead, thus preventingthe head of the wrench being passed beyond the jam or locknut andloosely surrounding the bolt, due to the fact that the overhanging innerend of the stop-tongue, or stop as it has hereinbefore been referred to,engages the outer face of the jam or locknut and prevents inward axialmovement of the socket-head. Pressure exerted inwardly on the handle inthe direction of the axis of the socket-head will assure retention ofthe wrench on the nut without any possibility of the socket head passingbeyond the nut and loosely surrounding the bolt. When using aconventional box-wrench, exceptional care must be exercised to preventthe passing of the socket-head over a bolthead, or nut, otherwise thewrench head would easily assume such loosely surrounding condition, andin an attemp to re-engage it with the nut, it would be found necessaryto rotatably adjust the socket-head by swinging the handle 7 in an arcof a circle in order to align the corners of the nut withcorrespondingly-shaped V-shaped notches 10 in the socket-head and unlesssuch co-relationship is carefully established, the socket-head maycarelessly be slipped outwardly beyond the nut and a readjustment mustagain be made by rotatably adjusting the socket-head and then moving thesame inwardly along the nut so as to enter corners of the latter innotches 10 of the socket-head. When using a boxwrench without theembodiment of my invention such adjustments are found necessary tointermittently effect operative relationship between the wrench and thenut or bolthead, particularly when surrounding parts serve asobstructions to a complete circular movement of the wrench.

Wrenches of this type usually have a straight-lined handle portion 18whose end portions are curved in opposite directions, as at 19, and fromthese curved end portions the socket-heads 8 extend. The stop-tongues orabutments 16 are curved to conform to the curved" portions 14.0f thehandle and therefore sufl'icientfriction is created between the latterand the stop-tongue to assure retention of the latter in its activeposition, as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, or in its inactive positionas shown in full lines in Fig. 4. By having the socket-head or heads atobtuse angles to the handle 7 and particularly to the curved endportions 19 of the handle, the application of either a nut or a boltheadto a socket-head inclines the handle away from the level or plane or theface of the partto which the bolt is fastened and thus invariablyprovides clearance-over obstructions rising from suchpart which enablethe handle with the inactive socket-head to'be'swung. in a circularpath.

Another exemplification of the use of my improved Wrench is shown inFig. 5, in which the wrench is fitted onto the head of a bolt and insuch cases the overhanging end of the stop element or tongue 16 engagesthe outer face of the bolthead, thus preventing the wrench slippingbeyond the bolthead and rendering the wrench inefiective.

When using the. wrench and exerting pressure axially against the head ofthe bolt, connection between the bolt and the wrench will be maintainedand a free circular path of'travel'is assured for the wrench so that thebolt can be quickly tightened without any possibility of the wrenchbecoming disconnected from the latter.

A furtherexemplification of the use of my invention is shown in Fig. 6,in which an object is designated by the numeral 20, said object having aflat surface 21 provided 'at two sides with upstanding flanges 22disposed at a tongue or abutment 16 swung into inactive or inoperativeposition while the socket-head engaging the nut 24 has the stop-tongueor abutment at that end of the wrench positioned so that its outer orfree end overhangs the socket-opening and engages the outer face of thenut. It will be apparent that the movement of the wrench is limited toan arc of a circle of approximately 90 degrees because of the upstandingflanges 22; consequently in tightening the nut 24 on the bolt, it willbe necessary to disengage the socket-head of the wrench from the nutseveral times during the operation of threading the nut home and in sodoing it is only necessary that the inwardly-projecting end of thestop-tongue or abutment engage the outer face of the nut and the socketthus be prevented from slipping inwardly beyond the nut where it wouldloosely surround the bolt and thus become ineffective; provided, ofcourse, that the space between the nut and the surface of the object 20,though greater than the axial dimension of the socket-head, whichnaturally existsin many instances when first threading the nut onto abolt, or where; such space is less than the axial dimension of thesocket-head, is enough to provent a sufi'icient area of contact betweenthe socket and the nut for effective operation of the wrench.

An attempt to engage a conventional type of boxwrench with the nut 24shown in Fig. 6 would necessitate removal from and engagement of thesocket-head four times during each complete revolution of the nut on thebolt and that many such revolutions may be required before 'the nut isfully tightened in place, during which &-

and-oniactions, time will be lost and the process of fastening the nutto the bolt retarded because of the necessity of guarding againstimproperly positionng the socket-head on the nut before each swing ofthe wrench.

While, in the preceding detailed description of my invention I havereferred to a single socket-head, preferably forged at one end of thehandle 7, it will be understood ments 16 may be retained in their activeor eifective po-' that a socket-head will in most instances be providedat each end of the handle and that the stop-tongues or abutsitions asshown in Fig; 2, or in their dormant or ineifective positions to beswung into active or effective positions when circumstances warrant ortheir use appears to be beneficial. For example, with a bolt having onlyslight space between its head and the part the latter is to engage, orbolts found slightly loose, there would not of necessity be anyadvantage in using the stop-tongue or abutment, since the inner face ofthe socket-head would contact the part into which the bolt is threadedand a mere tightening of the bolt would be required. Under suchconditions the stop-tongue or abutment may or may not be used, and ifused, would provide the advantage that the wrench would always be incondition for use under all circumstances.

There are many conditions under which a stop or abutment having aportion overhanging the socket-opening in a boxwrench or extendinginwardly from the peripheralwall of said socket toward the axis of thesame would be advantageous in use and the ready application of thewrench to nuts or bolts, when so equipped, would enable intermittentadjustments of the wrench to be made closely approaching the operationof complicated and expensive ratchet wrenches, which arealso sometimesreferred to as ratchet box-wrenches.

Under the term socket-head I include all structural terminals for thehandle which can receive and hold a nut or a bolthead and be movedrotatably upon moving the handle of the wrench through an arc of acircle, or

in a circular path; such terminals including structures havingconventional spaced jaws relatively movable to diminish or increase thespace, or socket openings between them; such spaces or sockets servingthe same purpose as the openings in the box-like terminals shown in thedrawings hereof, as will be apparent to those skilled inthe art to whichthis invention relates, such spaces in their broader aspect serving asopenings or sockets through the wrench head.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: A wrench,comprising a handle having a curved portion terminating in a socket-headhaving a socket-opening therein to receive boltheads or nuts of varyingformations so as to cause the bolts or the nuts entered in saidsocket-opening to rotate with said wrench when swinging the lattercircularly; said socket-head being disposed at an obtuse angle to themajor portion of said handle; a flexible strip of metal pivotallysecured to said,

handle adjacent said socket-opening and overlying the curved end thereofso as to have its free end overhang said socket-opening, said strip ofmetal being frictionally retained in position against the curved portionof said handle and capable of being swung free of said socketopeningwhen not required.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

